Unexpected Find
by aphtrashbin
Summary: Alfred is a compassionate soldier in Afghanistan in mid-2014, awaiting the day his campaign ends. While on duty, he finds a strange discovery a stranger variety among weapons and stolen goods- a snake person, suffering malnutrition and heatstroke. Alfred cannot leave him there to die, nor could he turn him in- and so must work to preserve both their freedoms. USUK, M for later on.
1. Discovery

The mission that Alfred and his platoon had been sent on was easy enough. A bust in Afghanistan regarding illegal trading-likely drugs and valuables, perhaps some of the items lost in the looting that occurred after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, concerning American businessmen hiding them in the region.

Of course, they hadn't expected all that they had found. They found drugs, things like bath salts and other foreign imports on their way through the Middle Eastern Region, likely to go south through Africa and eventually make their way to South America, money and weapons, which justified their presence to the locals easily enough.

"Looks like Soviet gear, Al." One of his friends and lower ranked officers whistled whistled. "Someone paid a pretty penny for those."

"Nah, probably just left here from the Soviets themselves." Another piped up. "From the 70's and 80's."

Alfred himself was looking through some of the texts, sighing as he realized that none of the valuable ancient texts he had been hoping to find had ended up here. "Nothing." He said, angrily. "Nothing's here. No ancient texts."

"Al, as much as I love you, buddy," yet another soldier sighed. "I doubt they are even here- more likely they wound up in private collections of some rich bastard."

Alfred Jones, head of this particular platoon, sighed angrily, frustrated.

It was 2014, and he was tired of serving the US military. In college, he had majored in linguistics and psychology, and learned both Arabic and Farsi. It had been all for working in the Middle East. Alfred desperately wanted to work in the US army, helping support troops. However, since he spoke two of the languages, rather than be put through the small US army budget to be a psychologist, he was put in battle to help keep the peace. In his spare time he studied the events of the 2003 invasion well, talking with locals to keep up his language skills- though it was harder to maintain his Arabic than it was to maintain his Farsi, and he was 99% sure he was losing grip on the Iranian dialect in favor of the Afghani versions, Pashto and Dari.

His linguistic skills were lovely when he found the expansive amounts of literature- particularly poetry-in the language.

There was a bit more poking around, and once they had cleared the main area, and left three of the platoon to secure their hold on the main floor, Alfred and the remaining 6 went around to examine other parts of the house- for people, for other surprises.

A call of clears went up- most had simply found food, or the bathroom.

However, another screamed in terror, and had forced the rest into action, clicking the safety off their weapons as they ran to see what had startled the person, Alfred included.

Alfred was at the very back of the door, but he heard them all talking. "Holy shit, what _is_ it?"

"Is it alive?"

"Of course it's alive Jerry, it's watching us."

"What is it!?" Alfred said, frustrated with the platoon. "Is Marshall okay?"

"Yes, Al." The younger soldier himself spoke, though the voice was shaky. "I'm fine, it's just…"

"Ugh… Then why did you scream?" He asked. "Everyone, clear out of here, whatever is in there obviously isn't so much of a danger to require all 7 of us to crowd the door, back off, let me through."

There was nothing at first, and then they reluctantly moved, pulling out of the room to let their commanding officer through.

Two things surprised Alfred- one, the fact his troops had even hesitated to listen to their superior, and two…

The snake…human _creature_ lying encased in glass before him, lying on its side with deadened green eyes watching him warily…blinking every once in a while.

"Is it alive?" One man asked, and Alfred sighed, nodding. "Yes, it's alive. Though I don't think we should refer to him as an 'it'." He murmured, going over to the tank. "Have any of you owned reptiles in the past?" Alfred asked rhetorically, rubbing his temples.

When a crowd of "no", "nah", and "nope," rang through the crowd, Alfred lifted the top off the tank, and looked down into it, much to everyone's displeasure and unease.

"Don't be alarmed, I don't think he can hurt us right now." Alfred said, looking down at the creature- focusing not on the long, skinny green tail, but rather, the emaciated human half- with sympathy, the green eyes having followed him, his head tilting back unnaturally as he watched him. "Well, it's common knowledge that reptiles can become lethargic with hypothermia, but it's less known that they can die just as easily, if not more so, from hyperthermia, and the fact he's star-gazing is telling me that this poor guy's in a lot of trouble."

"But sir…" One said, unsure, and Alfred glared.

"I'm _not_ leaving him here- I don't know _what_ he is, but he's obviously sick and in need of care." Alfred said, stubbornly compassionate for this creature that had so obviously been suffering. "Will someone _please_ help me break this thing open, and someone else go turn on that bath upstairs, on cold?"

The man were again slow to move, but Alfred got them to do it, breaking the glass casing and Marshall volunteering to go run the bath, bolting. "He's afraid of snakes." One of them said, snickering.

Alfred was still watching the creature- it had been shifting its gaze slowly around, but Alfred was realizing it wasn't doing so absently. When the last man spoke up, the piercing green gaze had been first leveled at the source of the sound, and then at the doorway where Marshall had left- it was listening, and understanding them, to some extent.

"Amazing." Alfred whispered, looking to where the green eyes met his again. "You're keeping track of who is talking about who- you understand us, don't you?" He murmured, bending down to meet him.

The creature blinked, before nodding slowly, balling up as best he could, with his head arching back almost unnaturally as he wobbled upsidedown, the poor creature looking altogether quite miserable.

"We're making you nervous…that's alright- its okay to be scared, but know we're not going to hurt you." Alfred said, voice soft and gentle. "I'm Alfred. I'm getting you out of here, promise." He smiled. "But first, we're going to cool you down a bit…"

XXXXX

Most of his men apparently, were goddamned chickens. Dealing with insurgents armed with weapons and were more than glad to kill an American soldier? Perfectly fucking fine and dandy. Dealing with an obviously sick and miserable half-snake person? Too scary, of course, and it left Alfred helping said creature almost all on his own.

Said creature didn't mind being helped solely by Alfred, though. It seemed he relaxed with only the one man present. Alfred got him in the cold bath, rubbing down the hot skin and trying to help him cool off, green eyes fluttering closed as he relaxed.

Once the tail was in the water, it was easy to just think of him as human- he looked just like one, pardoning the claws on his hands and fangs that were visible with his open mouth, barely protruding. Alfred thought they could come out if the creature was threatened, and so stayed quiet as he assisted him.

The creature moaned lowly in relief, the sound painfully human, making Alfred sympathize with him, his eyes softening as he stroked the dirty hair on its head and brought his water bottle to the creatures lips to give it something to drink. Upon dripping some of the water into his mouth, the creature was easily coaxed into drinking from it. Alfred had only given them 10 or so minutes, and as they got the 5 minute warning from his troops, Alfred knew that he had to pull the snake-man back out of the cool water.

He stepped away, and asked for sheets to be brought to him from one of the bedrooms from the door, and then returned to the creature.

"Do you have a name?" He asked, gently, and green eyes looked at him sluggishly, but he nodded. "What is it?" Alfred probed as he reached over to pull the snake out of the bath.

"Arrrfur…." He slurred, but Alfred was able to guess well enough his real name with that.

"Arthur?" Alfred clarified as he sank his hands into the water, and the snake man nodded, closing his eyes as the human gripped his body and pulled him out of the tub. The human was very, very glad that Arthur seemed to not think of him as a threat- his snakes growing up didn't have a jaw as large as a humans- if Arthur bit him, there was a good chance of doing a lot of damage. "Well, Arthur, I'm sorry we couldn't meet in better circumstances, but it's nice to meet."

Arthur's nod was lethargic and off-kilter, undoubtedly a symptom of neurological damage done by the heatstroke, since the creature Alfred held was still emanating heat, but it was still sincere. He was choosing to trust Alfred here.

The door was opened, and Arthur hissed nervously at the sudden noise, but the sheets that had been held out for them were dropped as the soldier holding them jumped ship and ran, and Alfred hushed him a bit, setting him down on the floor. "They're for you." Alfred murmured before dipping them in the cold water. "To help get you back to a good temperature on our way back."

Arthur didn't relax, his head and upper body shaking and swaying from side to side, and Alfred's heart hurt for him. "I'll protect you, Arthur. I promise." The commanding officer whispered, pulling them out and wringing the water out, before wrapping Arthur in them, hiding the tail as best he could but focusing on making sure he had a firm grip on the creature's shaking upper body.

Arthur wrapped his tail around Alfred's midsection to get a grip on him, leaning his head against Alfred's chest as he hid himself from sight under the cover of the sheets.

"Alright soldiers, you better had made good use of yourself loading the items into our truck." Alfred said, voice threatening as he came out of the bathroom. "Since I assisted with the sick captive all on my own."

"W-we did, sir." Jerry said, quietly. "Are you alright?"

"Perfectly fine." Alfred nodded, confidently. "Alright. Here is how this is going to go: Arthur here has been held captive for some amount of time, he has heatstroke and requires immediate medical attention, and he may be hostile due to fear, particularly of large groups. As it stands, he's with me. Jerry, you take drivers seat, and I'll be in the back on the drive to the base. No one is to discuss _anything_ about Arthur other than the fact he was held hostage in this area- with _anyone_. I will discuss this with my higher ups on my own. Are we all clear?"

"Yes, sir!" They reported, because even though they were uneasy, they understood commands simply enough.

Arthur's fingers curled into the fabric of Alfred's uniform, and Alfred felt his breath hitch. "Let's get moving then. If we have everything, mission's complete and we can get back to base."

XXXXX

The drive back to the base was the easiest part, despite how Arthur devolved into a non-human language in a clear hallucination, had his tremors culminate into a seizure, and how he was now currently unconscious, either from the seizure or from heatstroke, Alfred couldn't tell.

It was still the easiest part of getting him inside under wraps.

"Alright. Now what." Alfred muttered to himself as he held the man close to his chest.

Alfred had a few options.

A- Reveal Arthur to the whole base, potentially get the creature thrown into the hands of the US government and either live in captivity as an experiment for the rest of his life or get experimented on and killed in the process.

B- Don't reveal Arthur to anyone, risk him dying here from heatstroke, and getting himself court martialled for the death of a civilian he could have saved with medical attention, or…

C- Don't tell anyone at the base, find someone outside of the military to give Arthur treatment, risk getting court martialled for withholding information.

The third option was the best, but the hardest- it required him getting them into another car, while they were already at the base, or Alfred going AWOL- another dangerous option for himself. Unless he found someone- one person- who he could get help from in hiding Arthur…this whole ordeal would end up with one or both of them captured, dead or worse.

Alfred held the unconscious snake man's upper body in his grip, the man limp and feeling small and feeble in his arms, even though his tail was longer than Alfred's entire body, he was so underfed he was skinny and weak and it was sad, so, so sad, but Alfred didn't know how to help him other than to make sure he stayed safe.

They arrived, and Alfred wanted to be there when Arthur woke, but the creature was simply out cold.

However, of course, the questions started to come- why wasn't the commanding officer at the front, and Alfred realized his out. "Wait! I'm back here, I have an international citizen in need of medical attention- he's asked to be taken to another camp, rather than a military base."

"Lieutenant Jones!" They said, annoyed. "You should have radioed to tell us that- we would have instructed you to go straight to a Hospital."

"Sorry, Colonel." He murmured, stroking Arthur's hair. "I got distracted- he needed someone to be with him, he's had a seizure since we've been driving."

The man huffed. "Fine. The weapons are in the other car with the majority of your company, yes?"

"Yes, sir."

"I see no issue in letting you bring him to an international organization." He huffed. "If he's so against getting help from the US government…."

"Yes sir, thank you sir." He breathed out a sigh of relief, holding Arthur tighter. "I'll be in contact."

And with that, the colonel let the platoon leave, and Alfred was able to drive the jeep out away from the base, before going back into the back and retrieving Arthur, buckling him into the passengers seat now that he would only risk hurting Alfred if he attacked.

Arthur was thankfully unconscious the rest of the drive out to the nearest international heath organization, and Alfred didn't drive over any bombs on the way there either.

XXXXX

The doctor assigned to him at the Doctors without Borders camp was none other than a disgruntled Canadian who was upset about still being assigned out here. He was complaining on and on about the needless American military, and Alfred simply didn't argue, refusing to discuss his patient until the man chilled out some.

"So, why is an _American_ here anyway?" Dr. Williams asked, raising an eyebrow in suspect.

"Ugh. You're not even a real doctor- you're a medical student interning for them." He muttered. "I wanted to talk with someone higher up than you? With a little more experience, maybe?" Alfred glared in growing frustration, standing outside the car with the air running inside.

The med student/intern grumbled in upset, and a staring contest started- a stalemate that would last for all of a minute. Because suddenly the silence was broken by a pained groan, and Alfred had to look back in fear. "He woke up…" He murmured, climbing back in the car to look at Arthur and try and speak to him. "Arthur? Arthur, can you hear me? It's Alfred…"

Clouded green eyes opened to watch him, and the body's wobbling came back, his head tilting back unnaturally as Arthur groaned, his tail curling inwards on himself. "Shit…" Alfred mumbled, rubbing his forehead and looking back to where the intern was staring at them in confusion.

"Arthur, you need medical attention. I won't let anyone hurt you on purpose, and if something hurts, tell me, I won't leave you, I promise." He was saying, though he didn't know how much the creature understood as Alfred made the judgment call.

"Stand back." Alfred said as he got out of the drivers seat, and walked around to the passenger side door, opening it and pulling out the torso first, the medical student quickly running to assist him…but stopped in his tracks as the tail fell out of the car in a heap.

Alfred raised an eyebrow at him, but gently started to speak to Arthur, helping the snake man wrap his tail around Alfred's torso once again, though the motion was weaker.

"Hey- not backing out of any international agreement, are you?" Alfred said with a grin. "I mean, you title is doctors without borders…I'd imagine that would include the border between different species of humans, right?"

XXXXX

The med student agreed to help him shortly after seeing Arthur for the first time. He also brought his supervisor, a zealous French doctor who was fascinated by the creature the American Soldier had brought to them. Not many were assigned to this part of Afghanistan at the moment, the French one, Francis had revealed. After all, there were worse crises in other parts of the world.

"Just…get helping." Alfred said, frustrated, and the two nodded, setting up an IV and restraining Arthur's torso and head to the bed so that he'd stop wobbling for the moment.

"So, you mentioned Alfred that he's suffering both human and snake like symptoms?" Francis asked, writing things down quickly.

The soldier nodded. "Indeed. The thing he keeps doing with his head is called stargazing, and the swaying is called wobbling. They're both neurological problems that can develop from heatstroke in snakes. But, he's also had human symptoms- delirium, and seizures."

"Where did you find it?" Matthew asked, dumbstruck as he applied ice to the neck and armpits of the creature.

"I found _Arthur_ while we were conducting a raid." Alfred emphasized his name. "We found various other classified materials, but this one was…alive." He murmured, stroking Arthur's head as the snake man whimpered in fright or in pain, perhaps both. "He's able to understand us, and he told me his name was Arthur."

"Poor man." Francis murmured sympathetically as scratched his head. "That leaves me with a problem. What pain medication do I give him, how on earth do I treat him? Is he more human or more snake?" He shook his head, sighing.

"I don't know." Alfred admitted. "But he needs food, shelter and water. If he stays cool, he'll start slowly recovering if he's more snake like. And I couldn't keep him at the base, it'd be too dangerous for him there."

"I would be inclined to agree." Francis nodded slowly. "But that leaves me with almost nothing I can do for him but to sit and watch him suffer."

"You can probably give him some morphine…it works in snakes and in people, after all." Alfred piped up, putting Arthur's hand in his, letting the creature squeeze it tightly.

Francis agreed, getting out a dose- one appropriate for an exceptionally large human to make up for the fact the creature had an extra several feet in length to the average human.

After a period of waiting, about 18 minutes later, Arthur's death grip on Alfred's hand and his tense body both relaxed, his eyes fogging over with sleepiness rather than pain, and the doctors considered it a victory for them all- for themselves, Alfred, and the snake-man Arthur.


	2. Recovery

Alfred had figured that it would be a long time before Arthur would get better. And to his credit, he was right- he just didn't know _how_ right.

Two and a half months had passed since the soldier had met the creature, and Alfred had visited all the time he had available to do so- but he had finally gotten the notice. He was going to be leaving in another four months, his tour finished, and he would be allowed to go home, since his time on active duty would be finished.

In that same amount of time, Arthur had slept, been ridiculous with Francis and Matthew by only letting Alfred take care of him, spoken all of 5 other words to them, which was the use of the word "hurts" twice, "Alfred", when hissing at Francis and Matthew to ask for him to do it, and "stop" once, in conjunction with hurts.

However, Alfred's psychology and linguistics side was utterly fascinated by this discovery. He understood them most of the time- but not all-, and almost all of the words he was saying- apart from his name- were words he had repeated from Alfred speaking English to him- and he had another language that he spoke, in delirium- one _very_ different than any human root. This was the most exciting piece, since it meant that it was possible that Arthur hadn't grown up in captivity, and that there were others like him. Language was only a requirement for a species that had many individuals living together and needed to cooperate.

But, that left other psychological questions open. If Arthur had been raised only with others like him, what had ever urged him to trust Alfred? Since, if he hadn't been raised in captivity, then he had been captured and only ever hurt by humans, which wouldn't have endeared their species to him in any way. Perhaps he had been born among others like him, in captivity, and raised there, which would explain the familiarity with humans, and items like baths and IVs and other completely human objects.

Did he know any other human words?

Perhaps his original captors had never spoken any language around him, leaving him stunted save for what the rest of his kind spoke- essentially letting them all live a half truth that the creatures weren't intelligent and depriving the creatures of ways to beg in a way they could be understood.

Maybe Arthur hadn't wanted to learn it before…maybe he understood more than he spoke? Either way…

Alfred was traveling over to the place to visit him, talking with a few Afghani soldiers on the way, having offered them a drive.

" _Why are you traveling to their camp?"_ They were asking in a dialect, and Alfred grinned.

" _I saved someone from the Taliban, and the poor man was very sick. I visit him as often as I can."_ He was honest. " _He has no one else, and very little memory."_

They nodded, looking at Alfred with newfound respect. As it happened, very few American soldiers learned the Afghani languages, and he was already well liked and very well known with the locals. In particular they liked him because he respected them and spoke honestly as he could, using obscure dialects and slang to get away with telling them more than he legally should.

" _Please, do give him our regards for him to get better."_ They said, kindly. " _You're a very good man, Alfred."_

The other one grinned, before teasingly adding, _"Even if you are an American."_

And the rest of the drive was spent talking about the soldiers families, and plans for the holidays coming up, talk of reconstruction of the cities around them, and other things.

The talk ended with heartfelt goodbyes, and then Alfred dropped off the soldiers, and went over to the hospital. He parked, and walked in, heading over to Francis and grinning. "How is our patient?" He asked with a drawl, and Francis grumbled, showing off bite marks on his arm.

"On the upside, we now know for sure that he's not venomous." He muttered in distaste. "But he _refused_ to let me give him the anti-seizure medication he's been on. Again."

Alfred sighed, looking at the marks in worry for Francis. "Well, I got a date I'm finally going home." He admitted. I have only 4 months left on this tour, and then I'm going home for grad school in psych or something…" He sighed. "I'll need to arrange something to bring Arthur with me, since he's so against having you take care of him, and he's barely recovered in the last two and a half months!"

Francis nodded, frowning slightly. "Alright then, visit, talk with him as you normally do- but he needs a check up today, alright? Bring him out when you're done…" He said, before gesturing for Alfred to follow him, where Arthur was lying in the large enclosed environment that the three humans had painstakingly set up for him, with fans, various heat sources, a big tub of water, and a few places to rest in. Arthur had hidden himself under the rock, staring suspiciously at the entrance- at Francis- when Alfred first caught sight of him.

"Arthur! I told you that you had to take medication when Francis or Matthew give you it!" He said, in a half-heartedly exasperated noise, but smiled at him as he walked in, watching as Arthur carefully poked his head out to see if it was, indeed, Alfred.

And the snake man smiled back at him, the expression small and kind of awkward on his face. "These pills help you, Arthur." Alfred said sternly as he sat down next to his hiding place with water, the pills, and treats Alfred had brought with him from the military base's cafeteria from the visiting diplomats- better quality than what Matthew and Francis fed him, undoubtedly.

Arthur still wasn't coming out of his cave, though he looked incredibly tempted by the bag that Alfred was holding- the one with meat in it- and glanced back at Francis, trying to make Alfred understand.

"Franssssissss…." Arthur eventually said after finding Alfred being deliberately obtuse with his dislike of the man being in the room with them, drawing English word number 6 from him, even if he struggled a bit with the soft "c" sound.

"You heard the man." Alfred said jovially to Francis. "He's not coming out until you're out of the room."

Francis rolled his eyes, reminding angrily that Arthur simply needed an appointment today, before speaking in loud, irritated French and stomping out of the room. However as he left, Arthur relaxed considerably, and came out of his hiding place almost instantly, settling his upper body in Alfred's lap and leaning against him.

Alfred knew to wrap one arm around him to ensure that Arthur would be comfortable and stable, as he remained upright- and again pondered the science behind these creatures. He only had known one snake species to even be open to coddle their children, let alone be so affectionate with their peers later in life. It had to be a mammalian trait of sorts, and was indicative of a social life in early development. Maybe Arthur didn't perceive of Alfred as a peer? Perhaps Arthur was a juvenile of sorts, and felt as though Alfred was a parental figure?

"Hey, Art." He grinned down at Arthur "So, medicine first." Alfred said, just as he did every day, and though Arthur made a face, he swallowed the pills obediently. "I know you smell your treat in the bag- it's for after we talk a bit."

Arthur blinked, and nodded, looking thoughtful. "T-taaaauukkk…?" He repeated the word, and frowned. "Tauk."

"Talk." Alfred corrected kindly. "It's a Llll sound, not a auuuu sound."

"Talk…" Arthur said, the pronunciation still a bit off, but nodded again, looking to Alfred expectantly.

"I'm going home in 4 months." Alfred said first, and the effect was instantaneous. Arthur's pupils contracted to slits and his claws dug into Alfred's uniform as he tried hugged himself closer to Alfred unsuccessfully.

"No!" He shouted loudly as his body reacted to the stress badly, his tail constricting and his head falling back and to the side as his back leaned away, shaking and swaying. "No! No!" Alfred winced as the claws broke his skin, but he hugged Arthur back just as hard, kissing his forehead softly, calling Arthur's name to get his attention.

"I'm not going to leave you here." He said, voice strained from the tight, constricting grip on him, and Arthur relaxed as Alfred's hand gently helped him upright again, frightened for a different reason as he looked over Alfred, his panicked breathing heightening only further as he whimpered in sorrow, upset over having hurt his one connection to humanity and one emotional comfort.

Alfred took in a deep breath, remaining calm. "Arthur, I'm okay." He said, gentle. "Please, don't squeeze me that hard again, alright?" He asked, and Arthur nodded quickly, gripping Alfred tighter with his claws- though this time in his clothes, not his skin. "I'm sorry for frightening you like that. I plan on taking you with me, and we would live together."

Arthur's eyes widened at the concept, and his head started to wobble, though this time it was with a smile- a response to this good news, undoubtedly. Alfred helped keep him upright. "Together…" Arthur murmured, his body shaking slightly.

Alfred nodded reassuringly; bringing Arthur's head back into the crook of his shoulder and holding it still, letting him relax there, feeling the tremors coursing through Arthur. "That's right. Together." He rubbed small circles into the man's back.

Arthur hummed quietly, allowing the gentle manhandling to keep him still as Alfred calmed him down.

"So, treat one goes to you." Alfred said, grinning at him as the tremors were calming down. "Again, you're part human, so you might be able to control your wobbling somewhat, so, try and stay still!" He encouraged with a bright smile as he pulled out the typical stimulus, Arthur smiling at it and though his head began to sway a bit, when Alfred pointed it out he frowned a bit, before doing his best to stop it.

Alfred watched, and then counted down aloud. "Hold still…5, 4, 3, 2…1!" He handed Arthur the meat, letting him swallow it whole, looking quiet satisfied with himself once he had downed it. Bright green eyes trailed back to the bag, obviously smelling more there and he nudged Alfred expectantly.

"Later." Alfred grinned.

Arthur frowned, almost appearing to be pouting. "No later." He muttered, before he gently leaned into Alfred once again.

Alfred laughed a bit. " _Not_ , honey. You say it, "not later"."

Arthur frowned, before attempting. "Not…not later?" He clarified, and Alfred nodded enthusiastically.

"Well, the best phrasing would be, "I don't want it later," but your English skills are lacking." Alfred clarified, and watched as Arthur lost him, before frowning hard and then headbutting him, grumbling in frustration with Alfred.

"Ah, you didn't know what I was saying…" He murmured. "Right, your English is elementary… So- Alfred Says…" He pointed at himself, and then mimicked speaking "Later". The soldier pointed at Arthur, mimicking speaking again. "Then Arthur says: "I don't want it later.""

Arthur's eyes looked thoughtful, and Alfred only grinned.

"Later." He repeated himself, and Arthur frowned, before picking up on what he was supposed to do.

"I…don't want…it later?" He repeated tentatively, and Alfred nodded excitedly at him in encouragement.

"Excellent!" He kissed the snake man's forehead and held him tight, making the snake man purr softly and snuggle into him quickly. "That's what I wanted to start helping you with- your English. You can understand concepts, but not everything and certainly not enough to keep you happy and allow you to communicate what you need from us."

Arthur looked delighted, even though it was confused. He understood that Alfred was going to teach him!

"Oh, and." He took out the second item of meat, making Arthur stare at it balefully. "Count with me- I'm counting down."

"5." Alfred waited until Arthur echoed him. "4…3…2…1" He handed Arthur the meat, which was immediately swallowed. Alfred crushed the now empty bag in his hand, and Arthur looked incredibly satisfied with the meal.

The one thing that had quantitatively improved was Arthur's weight. He had been terribly thin, his human half looked somewhat emaciated and his spine on his tail showed. The lethargy had been partly cured by simply getting his weight up to an acceptable number for a snake…man of his size, or one they assumed would be good.

"It'll be nice for you to know what we're all talking about." He murmured. "I imagine you already know some things, but not everything Matthew, Francis and I discuss.

Arthur nodded at that, squeezing Alfred tighter in affection. "Nice for you." He repeated in a whisper, and Alfred chuckled before correcting the grammatical mistake.

In only a few minutes, Arthur had spoken more than he had the whole rest of the time he'd been here. Alfred sighed, rocking the snake man in his lap. "You seem to be getting better, Arthur." He murmured. "Is the brain damage healing? Hopefully so…"

Arthur's eyes were fluttering shut, the man obviously sleepy and he purred contentedly at the comforting he was being given by Alfred.

"Really quick, before you get back to napping." Alfred said, smiling slowly, making Arthur look at him quietly. "You need to get a check up by Francis and Matthew…"

After he made a face at the mention of the other two, Alfred stood with his torso in his arms, making Arthur grumble in irritation as he wrapped the tail around Alfred. Francis and Matthew came into view, and Arthur hissed, constricting slightly in protection of them both, even as Alfred was finding it harder to breath.

"Art…" He gasped in pain from being crushed beneath his coils, and the creature tightened a bit more, before seeming to realize the hurt sound was coming from suffocating Alfred and he released, a bit too much, his tail falling to the ground as Alfred did his best to hold up his torso and keep him upright, despite how Arthur seemed to be trying to get away and let Alfred breathe.

Alfred took in a deep breath, and calmed down, keeping Arthur's torso flush against his. "Man, you need to work on not squeezing me so much." Alfred said with slight humor, smiling shakily. "You're much stronger than you realize."

Arthur whined, looking incredibly upset as he tried to curl away from Alfred, tremors starting in his panic, but Alfred wasn't going to let him feel bad about it. Alfred kissed his forehead, whispering soft reassurances to him, picking up his tail to keep carrying him. "It's okay, you just need to work on controlling yourself- I'm okay, I promise."

He set him down on the exam table, stroking his hair. "Can you try and stop wobbling or do you need the restraints?" He asked, gentle. Arthur looked fearfully at him, and then the restraints, before turning back to Alfred, begging him for something. "Okay…" He said, breathing out. "Okay. Do you need me to stay?" He asked, squeezing his hand, and Arthur nodded, closing his eyes tightly. He was afraid of something. Francis must have done something to frighten him- Alfred would ask later, even as he put the restraints on Arthur, putting his hands at his sides and then holding his head down. Matthew came out and put in the IV drip, before explaining that he was giving Arthur a light painkiller and sedative.

"Why are you doing that?" Alfred asked, and Matthew sighed, looking upset.

"Arthur couldn't exactly tell you, but he needs to have an x-ray." He said, running a hand through his hair in stress.

"What on earth happened?" Alfred asked, baffled, and Arthur looked frightened.

"He _probably_ broke or, at the very least, _bruised_ a rib." Matthew muttered. "Francis and I were trying to make him take his medicine, when he threw us off of him and fell off the table, hitting the chair I had been planning on using to sit in with his stomach." He grumbled. "Which is why he's acting so hostile to us at the moment, we suspect. Arthur's probably in a lot of pain."

Alfred softened, stroking Arthur's hair to comfort him. "He didn't say anything about it to me."

"That's the problem of him not having a large vocabulary." Matthew sighed in defeat. "We can't just ask him what hurts, nor can we explain what we're doing to him."

"He is restrained, yes?" Francis asked, coming into the room, and Arthur tensed noticeably.

"Yeah, he is." Alfred said, before kissing Arthur's forehead. "You rascal." He murmured. "You hurt yourself trying to get away from them, didn't you?" Arthur's confused eyes stared up at Alfred, looking at him in desperation, and Alfred squeezed his hand again. "No worries, shhh…shhhhh…. I'm not gonna leave you, if it starts hurting…" He thought for a moment, before tapping on Arthur's hand 3 times. "Do that, okay? I'm going to explain what they're doing in basic terms."

Arthur nodded a bit, shaking as he tapped Alfred's hand three times, and then three again. "It hurts now?" He asked for clarification, voice gentle, and Arthur nodded, looking away from Alfred. "Can he have more morphine before we get started?" Alfred requested, and Francis was more than happy to oblige, giving Arthur a bigger dose.

They waited 15 minutes, and Arthur had steadily relaxed, until he was slurring in the other language, his eyes half lidded and body lax against the table. "I think we're good." Alfred said, and Francis agreed, the three of them taking him to the x ray machine, trying to figure out where the issue was.

"There." Matthew pointed out his rib cage. "It's not broken, but it is pretty badly bruised, maybe fractured."

"But you can't do anything about it, except keep them still, right?" Alfred clarified, worried, to which Francis nodded in distaste.

"Correct. You cannot really set a bone there, but I suppose we'll need to… _bind_ Arthur, so that he doesn't curl on it while it heals, since he's so prone to balling up…that hyper flexibility would hurt it exceptionally, I'd imagine." Francis made a face. "But he's going to be _incredibly_ difficult to deal with while he heals if we do bind his torso."

Alfred looked to Arthur, petting his hair with his free hand, the snake man looking pleasantly dazed from the morphine in his system. "Arthur?" He said, trying to get his attention, and though he did, it was with a silly smile that Arthur slurred out his name. "Alllfreeeedd…" The name thick and long on his tongue, attempting to sit up to get closer to him, but failing, and then frowning slightly in confusion.

"We should wait." Matthew said quietly. "I don't want for him to feel that we took advantage of this, nor do I want to keep him drugged up the whole time he's healing- that would break the very same trust we're working so hard to build with him…"

"We shouldn't, since he's going to refuse to wear it. It's to make him feel better, after all, so ask for forgiveness, not permission." Francis shrugged.

Alfred glared. "That's a _serious_ violation of ethics, though. We already are dealing with the fact he barely understands English, we don't need him to not trust us, even if it's just to help him get better." He huffed, standing protectively in front of Arthur. "We wait until he's coherent to explain what options he has, and then we'll do whatever it is he decides."

He turned back to Arthur, who was staring up to Alfred with soft sorrow, and gratefulness, and when Alfred's free hand trailed to his face, Arthur nuzzled into it, comforted. "It's okay…just rest for now, I'll tell you more when you wake up." Alfred murmured.

Arthur was more than happy to listen, closing his eyes, safe under the knowledge that Alfred wasn't going to let anything happen without him knowing about it.

He carried him back to the enclosure, setting him down on the flat bed, and deciding to simply stay put and make sure he didn't hurt himself in his sleep rather than restrain him once again.

Arthur was happy to sleep then, murmuring something along the lines of " _pack_ …" before he started snoozing in his usual manner, Alfred simply preventing him from damaging his ribs in his sleep.


	3. Problems

Well, Francis hadn't been wrong in relation to Arthur. Incredibly difficult was a bit of an _understatement_ , as well. Arthur was just downright irritable and intolerable the whole last two weeks that he had been here.

Alfred had waited until the snake man had woken up to explain the basics, with help of a diagram, and Arthur had agreed to wear the brace to keep his torso in a single position.

That didn't mean that Arthur was happy with it. Rather the opposite, in fact. He found it uncomfortable and so lashed out frequently at Matthew and Francis, and occasionally Alfred himself- though he looked apologetic after doing it to Alfred. Alfred was tired, but he was the only one stopping Francis and Matthew from simply drugging Arthur to get him through this period of healing. Arthur didn't seem to understand that, though.

His English had improved somewhat, though it wasn't perfect, and it was mostly used to describe irritation and pain- two things that, when combined with being restrained, seemed to bring out more animalistic instincts.

"Arthur, you have to come out." Alfred was patient, knowing that Arthur was just hiding under something, but he didn't know why he was doing this. "I need to give you your medications…I brought something…" His voice trailed off, not seeing Arthur as he continued to walk around the room, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

He had only made one misstep.

Arthur yowled in sudden pain, and Alfred didn't know what happened as suddenly his legs were knocked out from beneath him, his head hitting a rock as he fell forward, and the breath was knocked out of him in a quick but solid _oomph_. Alfred's head spun as he feebly rolled to try and face where the attack was coming from, blue eyes widening in terror as he saw Arthur's fangs fully extended.

He barely had time to put his arm in front of his face before Arthur clamped down on it, biting him hard, making Alfred cry out in pain, the call for help not yet loud enough to get anyone's attention since he had knocked the air out of his lungs.

Arthur shook his head, and therefore his arm, digging the fangs deeper into Alfred, before green eyes opened narrowly, slits staring straight at him, and Alfred felt terrified- Arthur was going to kill him- _Arthur was going to kill him, if Alfred hadn't have put his arm up to stop him, Alfred would already be dead._

However, as their eyes met, the green eyes opened fully, slits dilating and Arthur simply froze, staring at Alfred, horror creeping into his expression as he opened his mouth, letting Alfred go, blood dripping from his fangs and lips just as it gushed from Alfred's arm, the soldier drawing it into his chest protectively, his whole world spinning- blood dripped into his eye, where was that coming from…when had that happened…?

"H-help…" Alfred whispered, terrified as he watched Arthur, as Arthur's eyes stared in guilt, horror, mouthing, _Alfred,_ his hand lifting shakily to touch the soldier, but it didn't matter, because Alfred finally was able to scream. "Help! Please, someone _HELP!"_

XXXXX

Three days later found Alfred being released from the military hospital, given at the least, a month of leave to deal with his concussion and injury.

" _Alfred, I know you say you don't know what attacked you, but…this looks like a snake bite… But it's too large for any snake native to this region… the fangs are so wide set…it looks almost as though a human bit you with snake fangs…"_

The doctors had been baffled when Alfred was brought in for treatment, the injured arm having caused the soldier to fall unconscious from blood loss or pain, it was hard to tell now… Arthur's bite had broken his bone, and left a huge set of gashes in his skin from the fangs. The concussion was the more worrisome of the beast, since Alfred had lied about its severity to the doctors, saying he had passed out as he was attacked, and he couldn't remember what attacked him.

" _I'm sorry doc, I dunno what it was- I don't remember… It was so fast, and I hit my head really, really hard…"_

He could, of course he could. He remembered Arthur's face as he attacked, going for Alfred's throat but being stopped by his arm. Had Alfred not stopped him, Alfred would be dead, his throat crushed in his mouth, if not completely torn away. He remembered screaming in terror for help, and Arthur's broken face as he was forced away by Matthew as Francis dragged Alfred out of the room, even though it was all blurry and half-real.

What was left was a deep-seated fear- Arthur could have killed him, _would_ have killed him, if Alfred hadn't acted as quickly as he had.

With his arm in a cast and sling, and wearing sunglasses to help with the brightness outside, Alfred got into an escort car, wanting to be brought back out to them. He wanted to see Arthur, even if he was scared of him, what he could do.

Because the response had been instinctual- once Arthur had realized what he had done, what he had _almost_ done, he had simply not known what to do. He had been afraid, _horrified_ , even. It'd been 3 days that Alfred was simply too injured to leave, and that mean 3 days of Arthur probably not knowing anything, or Francis or Matthew…

And Matthew and Francis might have condemned Arthur to die, might have set him loose or…or _worse…_ could have already killed him. For a mistake- Alfred had stepped on his tail, surprised him, and had been hurt. Nearly killed, but…

Alfred felt sick in the ride over, and he wasn't entirely sure it was all because of his concussion.

XXXXX

"Alfred!" Matthew shouted as he recognized him, and relief was obvious in his expression. "Holy shit!" The man ran over and hugged him, as Alfred stiffened in response to the loud noise.

"Be quiet please…" Alfred murmured, smiling weakly. "Headache…" And Matthew looked apologetic.

"Sorry." His voice became softer, and Alfred thanked him.

"How is…?" Alfred asked, biting his lip, and Matthew sighed, looking away.

"He's…he's bad." Matthew admitted. "He's… well."

Alfred felt relief course through him. "Thank you…I was afraid you'd kill him or something…"

"We didn't." Francis said, coming into the room. "Our American has returned!" He said, the voice soft but happy. "I knew that you were not one to die so easily."

"I'm not, you're right." Alfred said smiling a bit. "But…is Arthur okay?"

Francis looked away. "We don't know." He admitted. "He won't see us, won't come out, won't respond…and we don't want to go looking for him as you did, since…he nearly…"

"I know." Alfred said, sighing. "I'll do it. Let me in the enclosure." He said, smiling. "I want him to know I'm okay."

Matthew and Francis looked horrified, but Alfred wasn't going to take no for an answer.

And that's why he was walking back in, swallowing his fear and calling out for Arthur. "Art? It's me, Alfred…" He said, before sitting down on Arthur's usual rock, yawning as he waited. "I won't lie, you pulled a real number on me, but I'm alright…"

There was no response, and Alfred didn't know what to do, except to wait. "I'm on paid leave…got a concussion, and all…" He rubbed the back of his head, curling his legs under his chin when minutes passed, and there was still no response. "I'm not leaving until I know where you are, Arthur."

"Why?" A rasping voice asked, clearly upset as the creature finally spoke. "I hurt you- I could have…"

"But you didn't." Alfred cut in, hiding his terror easily enough, swallowing his fear when he heard the guilt and sorrow in Arthur's voice. "You didn't- I'm still alive, and I wanna make sure you stay with me…so, please, come out of where you're hiding?"

Green eyes became apparent from underneath the pile of dirty blankets, and he pushed himself out from it, his body shaking and writhing, his eyes avoiding Alfred's gaze. However, as Arthur attempted to come out of the laundry, he toppled over, his body wobbling so much that he simply showed his stomach, the top of his hair dragging on the floor as he attempted to move towards Alfred, but being altogether unsuccessful, and he just…gave up, and breathed out in anguish, his face crumpling as he started to cry.

Alfred's face softened, and he gulped, before standing, and picking Arthur up, the snake man fighting it only for a moment before giving and gripping Alfred tightly, sobbing as he nuzzled him and hid his face in Alfred's shirt.

"I'm sorry." Arthur sobbed, his voice horribly distraught, hiccupping and hugging Alfred with his tail hanging limply beneath him. "I'm so sorry."

Alfred's free hand was working hard to keep Arthur upright, and so he brought Arthur to the ground, sitting down with him in his lap, letting Arthur lean against him as he stroked his hair, hushing him. "I know; I know you're sorry." Alfred reassured. "It's…well, it's not okay, but I forgive you for it. I forgive you."

Arthur gripped Alfred's shirt tighter, eyes flicking to Alfred's arm before looking physically sick, and hiding his face once again. Arthur seemed unable to do anything but apologize, crying and crying and crying, until he simply was too exhausted to continue, hiccups the only thing left of his upset, cried out and too tired to fight Alfred as he gave him his medication and water, and gave him some food, before pulling him up, and dragging him to the bed, where he laid down with Arthur, kissing his forehead and even though Arthur stared at him in confusion, was content to sleep beside Alfred for the first time, his fingers tightly curled into the fabric of Alfred's shirt.

XXXXX

The days following had things grow easier on Arthur, since Alfred was going to stay there the whole time he was on leave, only planning on leaving to get his check ups done at the base. Arthur was surprised, but easily grew accustomed to having Alfred with him all the time, rather dependent on Alfred.

Alfred knew this wasn't healthy of him, but Arthur wasn't healthy to begin with. The more he studied Arthur, Alfred had to hazard a guess that Arthur's species, if not Arthur himself, were dependent on social groups and socialization. Since Alfred provided almost all of Arthur's social communication, and Arthur's own words regarding it, like _pack_ , Alfred had to suppose that Arthur saw him as his one and only pack mate, and so was clinging to him in order to fulfill all of his social needs.

It was rather sad, honestly, and Alfred couldn't do much to stop it, since it seemed very cruel to take that comfort of having a pack away from him.

Arthur was flourishing with Alfred's suddenly stabilized presence, working on English, both understanding and speaking, given books to help work on reading it as well. Arthur rather enjoyed reading, even if the current items he was given were simply children's books and basic texts. Far more than reading, he enjoyed being read to, once his English had improved to the point he wanted more complex books to be read to him. Harry Potter was a book on hand, and Arthur was lulled into comfort by it.

It also made dealing with Matthew and Francis easier on him, once he could actually understand enough for Alfred to give him a basic lowdown of why he was here with them.

"They're doctors." Alfred said, gentle. "They just want to make sure you get better, just as much as I do."

"But I like you more." Arthur said, frowning.

"But, there are things I don't know how to do, that they do. Like how to give you x-rays, and prescribing medication…" Alfred kissed his forehead, making the snake man purr contentedly. "They're trained to do that."

"What are you trained to do?" Arthur asked, confused. "If not to be help people?"

"Well, I kind of am." He said, shrugging. "I learned about language development and psychology, or the study of the mind and how we think."

"Do you do that at the bassse you work at?" Arthur asked for clarification. "Because I've heard Fransisss tell others…that you're a soldier."

"Well, I'm that too." Alfred said, sighing. "Do you remember the day I found you?"

Arthur nodded, slowly, leaning into him. "Yes. There were many humans, they screamed at me and didn't do anything… until they left and you came into the room." He breathed out quietly. "You weren't afraid…you helped me." He nuzzled Alfred, gripping his shirt for comfort. "You took me out of the bad place, made me feel better… and as pack leader, you considered me one of your own, and brought me into your pack."

Well, that was an interesting rundown of what Arthur thought of him. "Pack leader?" Alfred repeated for clarification, confused, and Arthur nodded slowly.

"You lead, you control. You're head of the pack."

That was an interesting term for being a superior officer, but he understood why this was important to Arthur. He had recognized Alfred as the head of the pack, the alpha male of sorts, and he had seen how Alfred accepted him, and refused to let harm come to him, and brought Arthur into his "pack".

…It also subtly explained why Arthur refused to let Francis and Matthew do what he let Alfred do, but to no matter, but didn't much account for why he was so personally attached to Alfred, and if Alfred was the pack leader, why was Arthur so apologetic over having attacked him? It answered some questions and left others wide open for interpretation. Perhaps he knew that Alfred, as pack leader, didn't have to take care of him since Arthur had "challenged" him? Maybe Arthur had never intended it to be a challenge, preferring to stay as an underling? Alfred didn't get it, but Alfred also didn't question it further, petting Arthur's back and letting the snake man return to his pleasured purring.

XXXXX

Where it had been June when Alfred first met Arthur, it was now early November- and it concerned him deeply that he didn't know much about Arthur's species. Did they brumate in winter? The bright scales indicated a tropical species, which didn't need to, but it was countered by the fact Arthur didn't meet other expectations for a tropical snake.

So he had no idea what needed to be done to ensure Arthur would survive. Hopefully Arthur's instincts would do what was right for him.

It was also rather dry, and so Alfred recommended they give him water baths to ensure that he wasn't going to become dehydrated in the dry Afghani climate.

But, it was also becoming very, very cold.

And Arthur was, indeed, slowing down considerably, sleeping more throughout the day, and preferring to hide rather than to deal with anyone, except Alfred, who he would wake up and spend time with, occasionally trying to make him lay down with him and nap, and had started to simply refuse to eat, which annoyed and worried Alfred to no end. He didn't want Arthur to starve, but he had been refusing to even be force-fed.

But, as Alfred finally understood- perhaps it wasn't napping at all that Arthur was being driven to do, and since he saw Alfred as a member of his group, was trying to go into brumation with Alfred at his side.

This was actually a win-win scenario for everyone, since a sleeping, brumating Arthur would be an easy Arthur to smuggle into the United States, whereas a hissing, biting Arthur would be a huge limitation in travel options and a danger to being caught.

And, after a third check up on his head and arm injury, he was cleared to simply not partake in active service- since it is dangerous for soldiers to work machinery and weapons with a concussion- until his scheduled date to be brought home to the States on December 10th.

Alfred came back to Francis and Matthew's little shop with all of the news, and that was when they made the decision to roll with Arthur's urges to simply go to sleep for the remainder of the cold season.

They kept the temperatures high enough in the area to ensure Arthur wouldn't be tempted to go into it before they had his encasing for the trip ready, and explained the lowdown to a sleepy Arthur, only really listening to Alfred and vaguely nodding along in agreement.

The bag they made in the 3 weeks that followed the talk with Arthur, was meant for two things- to mimic a log that Arthur would rest in all winter, and then to hide that encasing in another encasement, for Alfred's belongings.

The day they finished the encasing for Arthur, November 23rd, they lowered the temperature down incrementally, and had the encasing in the area they used to hold Arthur in. Over the course of the day, Alfred stayed with Arthur, helping him gather what he wanted with him, blankets and books and such, before Arthur simply gave into instinct, and crawled into the dark cave they had made for him, holding Alfred's hand tightly until slowly, his breathing had quieted and evened out.

Once Arthur was "asleep", they added the last touches to his container- a thermometer, a very small heater/AC unit to ensure that the temperature inside the container would remain between acceptable levels for him to brumate at, water that would be refilled as needed as well as a small opening for Alfred to open and close to check on his breathing in the case of pneumonia, and of course, something that would be able to turn on the light Alfred had installed for him, if Arthur woke and was awake enough to want to read.

"Heh, nighty night, Arthur… We'll talk more in the spring… in the US. Not much time now before I'm back home, and you're with me." Alfred whispered, kissing the cold hand that still loosely gripped his own, even though its owner was already fast asleep, bright green eyes closed loosely, and mouth slightly open.

He would miss Arthur, Alfred realized. Arthur was someone who was very dear to him, and had become a very close friend, and Alfred was going to worry about him the whole time that they weren't together because Arthur was simply asleep, thought to be Alfred's luggage. Plus, he knew in the back of his mind that so much could go wrong, so much could possibly happen and hurt or kill Arthur… brumating snakes and reptiles in the wild had such a high mortality rate…

However, it _was_ the easiest way to make sure Arthur didn't die of hunger or stress on the trip overseas. And it wasn't like Alfred was just going to abandon him this whole time. No, he'd check on him every day, to ensure his water supply was full, and to ensure that he wasn't getting sick.

And it would only be for a few months! Two to four months, to be precise, and Alfred was a big boy- Hell, he was a soldier, and he could deal with it! It was less time than his wait to be withdrawn from Afghanistan, after all! Alfred was sure that Arthur was going to be fine- he had already survived so much.

Reassured that he was going to be just fine there, Alfred let Arthur's hand go, and gently pushed it closer to his body, before closing the inside container altogether, and leaving Arthur alone in the dark to sleep through the winter.


	4. Belonging

Alfred shouldn't have tried to kid himself when he said he wouldn't be worried about Arthur. Even though the bag caused literally no suspicion within the base, Alfred was still nervous about it, paranoid that Arthur was going to get found out, or he was going to open the bag one day and suddenly Arthur would simply be dead.

It didn't happen though. Arthur was always breathing slowly, generally sleeping through when Alfred changed his water- which did in fact, get used, and occasionally Alfred would turn the light off for Arthur, who had turned it on and read for a bit. Sometimes his eyes would be open, and he would watch Alfred with a small smile, dreamy until sleep claimed him once again.

When Alfred had left the Doctors without Borders base, he gave Matthew his address, telling him that whenever he was back in the North American continent, he should give Alfred a holler, since he had come to rather like the Canadian, even though they had gotten off on a bad foot.

The last few weeks Alfred spent in Afghanistan had been turning out to be very peaceful. His local friends would bring him food, they would wish him well and say that they hoped to hear from him again- though preferably not as a soldier.

His unit wished him well, and he knew that they were planning a surprise party behind his back, since they sucked at hiding things like that. Well, that and Alfred's superior told him about it.

It was a week before he would be on a plane home. 7 days until he would be going home.

Things had been working out so well.

He had simply been out in the wrong place and the wrong time, he was told.

Alfred overheard a few people talking about something, and his stomach dropped as they said the word for IED, and he shouted for everyone to run for cover- an IED was hidden in the street somewhere.

There was a kid, one that was screaming for help, that was where those men had been.

A scared kid, they were just walking and they were screaming for help, for mommy and daddy in an Afghan language that Alfred didn't care what it was, but understood and hurt for him, and Alfred didn't know where the men were, didn't know where the parents were, but he had to- he had to!

He dove for the child, wrapping his body tight around him, covering the boy's ears, and he ran, feeling the explosion go off from behind, heat on his back and ringing in his ears and Alfred saw the world went black around him.

Unconsciousness claimed him angrily, throwing him into darkness and likely the jaws of death, but at the very least he had been with the kid if this was truly their last moments on this good earth.

XXXXX

He lived. Alfred woke to the feeling of hands trying to pry something from his grip, _he knew it was important, he knew it needed to be protected_ , and he gasped, bringing it closer to his chest as his ears rang.

" _He is alive!"_ An Afghan voice was saying, and Alfred's head spun. " _Thank you sir, thank you sir!"_

It was a woman, and Alfred's eyes opened weakly, and he looked down to the boy he had mindlessly dove to save, shaking in his arms, looking relatively unharmed. Shaken up, certainly. But the blast would have killed him.

"Ah…" He said, voice weak as he struggled to put the right language to use. " _Mother, it was the right thing to do."_ He said, being formal as he let the boy go, the child diving to his mom's hands.

" _We have called for help, sir."_ The woman said, quickly. " _They'll be here soon- your soldier friends thought you for dead, I will go get them."_ And she got up, her boy tight in her arms, calling out in broken, accented English, "American! American! Help, help!"

Alfred coughed, blood coming out of his lips. His body hurt like hell, but that was the best outcome of being in a bomb blast. He would be in a lot more trouble if he simply didn't feel it. And he was able to move pretty well, that was also a good sign…

His head ached like hell though, and he sat up.

Alfred's soldiers did indeed come running back to his side with the woman, the woman coming with bandages and water, the men coming to get Alfred out of there with them.

"You look like shit Al." They said, looking relieved. "But you're alive."

"Indeed." Alfred said, rubbing his forehead and groaning. "Fucking…IED's…"

"We would all be dead if it weren't for you…" Marshall spoke up, wrapping an arm around Alfred's torso. "God…the explosion came right towards where we were walking…" He looked terrified. "W-we thought…you had…"

Alfred grinned, though the motion was more for the young 18 year olds comfort than because Alfred felt it. "I'm much harder to kill than that. And that, folks, is why you learn the local dialects and slang…" He said, his voice weak, but personable.

He grimaced as they felt up his leg and shoulder, his left shoulder was probably broken, and his right knee felt jacked to shit. But overall, he was alive. The woman thanked him again in the Afghani language- he still wasn't feeling good enough to tell which, and had used her things to temporarily set his leg, and bandage up his cuts. She thanked him again for covering her boys ears- Alfred had likely saved his life, and hearing.

He nodded again, and she gave him tea while they waited, and once the military vehicles came to pick them up, wished them well, the boy thanking Alfred as well.

"Keep an eye on Marshall, 'kay guys?" He said, firmly. "I think that shook him up more than he's willing to admit. I'll be fine, I've seen that before and worse- he's a youngin', our Marshall…" Alfred coughed. "Alright? Someone promise that they'll stick with him tonight…"

Jerry ended up agreeing; surprised that Alfred was so adamant about it, but Jerry also came back the next morning, the 19 year old thanking him for the advice, having stopped Marshall from killing himself that same night. Marshall was put in the same lot as Alfred, but he would take an additional flight to Colorado Springs, to be treated.

Alfred simply told him there was no shame in needing someone to talk to, and if he needed a shoulder to rest on, on the flight, Alfred was going to be there for him.

Marshall nodded, looking terrified, but nodded.

Alfred went back to his room to finish packing his things the morning after that, and refilled Arthur's water bottle as he usually did, Arthur's green eyes opening sleepily like they normally did, but he paused as he looked up at Alfred.

His eyes widened a bit, and he mouthed Alfred's name as worry and fear took center stage over sleepiness.

Alfred smiled, opening up the larger compartment to allow his hand to touch Arthur's hair, and stroking it. "I got hurt…it'll only be a few days now…" Alfred murmured, ignoring the fact his visage was probably terrifying. He was burned, bruised, and had lots of bandages over his skin. "It looks bad, but…I _am_ okay…I promise you I'm okay, Arthur."

Alfred stroked his hair, hushing Arthur as the cold-blooded man watched Alfred helplessly, unable to really force his body to move. "Hey... Don't worry about me!" He joked a bit as he went to give Arthur some water. "What, does having scaly skin really look so awful on me?"

When green eyes refused to close even after Alfred had given him his water, Alfred took Arthur's book, and opened to his bookmark, preparing to read. "How about I read to you for a few minutes, just until you're back asleep…?"

And Alfred read the comforting words from Mark Twain's novel, the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to Arthur, and though Arthur's worry was still obvious, the snake man was lulled right on back to sleep. Alfred put the bookmarker back in the page, and then set it back down, pulling the blankets up around Arthur's shoulders, and closing his brumating area once again.

XXXXX

The flight was long- just as Alfred had expected it to be. Arthur had extra water put into his case for it, since it would be weird for other soldiers to see him opening and closing his bag so frequently to put more water in it…

So he buckled in and slept the way home, being woken up by the doctor to have his burn cream rubbed on his wounds and given a painkiller for the injuries.

And hours later, he was being taken off the flight, and was given a quiet reception home, not that he minded. Grabbing his suitcases, Alfred mindlessly went to the bathroom in the N.Y. Airport, and checked on Arthur, sleeping quietly in once again. He took the time to fill up the water bottles, and stick them back in, before rolling out to where he would pick up a bus to drive him out to his home in northern Maine.

He slept on the way there as well, the painkillers a nice muscle relaxant as he was able to get a quiet, peaceful ride at 2 in the morning, EST.

Once he arrived back, he saw the small house he had inherited, and he grinned as he unlocked the door.

His home was freezing, but he hadn't expected much else, since he hadn't lived in it for years. There was tons of snow on the ground, and Alfred vowed to pay some high school aged kid to scoop it for him the next morning. He turned on the heat in the house, and unpacked his bags, checking on Arthur once again, before he sat down with him on the floor beside him, and turned on the TV after lighting the fireplace, and curled up in the warmth and comfort of home.

XXXXX

The winter months and holidays were spent in the quiet of home. Alfred had been used to the silence since he was young and his mom had died, leaving an 18 year old with everything she had owned. At 25, Alfred was used to her being gone.

New Years was spent alone, despite a few invitations from friends he hadn't spoken to in years, and a Christmas card was sent from his dad, and tossed to the side as per usual.

This year, though, Alfred was looking forward to the end of winter even more than he normally did.

As the signs of spring came about in late March, Alfred started to turn up the temperature in Arthur's cozy home. It was a slow process, that would take 3 weeks to fully finish, but Arthur didn't want to wait. He scratched at the exit of the container consistently a week and a half into the wake up process, and Alfred eventually gave into the creature's demands.

The veteran opened the container, letting light flood it from the exit, showing Arthur a whole new environment, suddenly.

Arthur was taken aback, and hissed at it in fright and uncertainty, Alfred chuckling lightly as he closed the big door, and pulled down the screen instead- to let Arthur look out at the world, but keep him safe from things out of his safe container.

"It's different, I know." Alfred nodded, smiling humorously. "But that's the end of the change, promise. I _did_ say I wasn't going to leave you anywhere."

Arthur's green eyes caught Alfred's in surprise, seeming to remember and making an "o" shape of his mouth. He was content to sit and watch, and wait, though, since his body and mind weren't all "awake" yet.

"This is your home…?" Arthur murmured a few days later from beneath the blankets, green eyes looking around with curiosity as much as suspicion.

"Yep!" Alfred said, cheerful. "Are you hungry yet?"

And Arthur yawned, before nodding, and Alfred opened the door to let him out of his space, having made several little hidey-holes for Arthur to enjoy while he was here, the creature slowly sliding out, body close to the ground. And Arthur looked at Alfred, his eyes refocusing on the healing burns and injuries. "That…whatever that was, it really happened, then?" He asked, voice groggy, hands gripping Alfred as he tried to use him for support.

Alfred wrapped his arms around his torso and scooped him up, and carried the skinny snake man out of his winter home; kissing his cheek lightly and making Arthur go flush as they sat down on Alfred's couch, the creature looking around at the new furniture with wide eyes.

His hands and tail tried not to touch it; simply preferring to stick with the person they knew for now over the inanimate objects they didn't. Alfred smiled at this, chuckling as Arthur gave it a suspicious glare. "Damn, I didn't know that the couch was so scary." He teased, good-naturedly. "I promised to take you with me, and this is where I live." Alfred said, though Arthur still looked disoriented.

"This is where you live?" Arthur's green eyes flittered up to meet his blue ones, briefly, and Alfred nodded again.

"This is my house. I live here fulltime now…I was discharged from the army while you were asleep." Alfred explained for him, before Arthur softened, voice slow as he spoke.

"It's not quiet sleep, you silly thing…" He said, leaning into him. "I remember… you were fine one day, and the next… you didn't come. But then another day passed, and you came, but you were injured badly…" He nuzzled Alfred, sighing. "You told me not to worry, but it's been on my mind since then, because I was too cold to really even speak. What happened?"

Alfred frowned, his happy energy disappearing. "Well…I got hurt." He murmured as he looked away from Arthur. "Pretty badly. I almost died…"

Arthur stiffened. "What did it?" He asked, confused.

"Other humans." He pointed to his burns. "I-I was caught in an explosion. A-an IED went off close to m-me…" Shit. Why was he starting to stutter? Alfred felt himself shake a bit.

He had gotten this far by ignoring it.

"Alfred?" Arthur's inquisitive voice was soft, and worried, and yet Alfred could barely hear it over the deafening sounds of his memories.

He gasped a bit, in residual fear, before Arthur seemed to understand. And he kissed Alfred's cheek, a clawed hand stroking through Alfred's hair, mimicking Alfred's own behaviors.

Alfred's eyes went straight to Arthur, who was content to stroke Alfred's hair and comfort him. " _Pack_ …." Arthur murmured reverently, and Alfred allowed himself to cry with Arthur, the snake man understanding the fear of death all too well.

XXXXX

In the weeks after Arthur's emerging from brumation, Alfred had fed him and washed him consistently, vaguely remembering caring for snakes- even though when he had owned them as a kid, he hadn't put them through brumation.

But Alfred hadn't studied snakes enough in his adulthood to know what brumation was traditionally for.

Arthur was refusing food again, being rather stubborn about it. But unlike when he refused in November, he was still rather active. In fact, the snake man was becoming _very_ strange- especially around Alfred, pacing, clinginess, rather enthusiastic nuzzling…

However, the reptilian man was only becoming more clingy and needy, not following, but rather, waiting for something.

Once Alfred looked up the effects of brumation online…he felt like an idiot.

"I don't know what sex you are." He said, dumbfounded. "I…I guess I had assumed you were a male snake… Because you lack breasts and all, but…I don't know what sex you are…"

Arthur stared at him, in irritation. "Human females are so weird." Arthur said plainly. "Why do they need breasts all the time?" He asked, rolling his eyes.

"When did you even see human females?" Alfred drawled, curious, but Arthur was strangely silent about that.

"I-I…I use the male pronouns for a reason." Arthur admitted quietly, sheepish. "But…my parts are for fertilizing children, not… not bearing." Green eyes looked to Alfred in desperation. "Don't see me as any different, pack leader. I'm still Arthur. I'm still Arthur- don't leave me, _don't leave me_."

"I won't leave, Arthur…that's what I had assumed." Alfred gently pet Arthur's hair, nodding slowly. "But…your instincts are driving you to mate…?" He asked, confused, and Arthur nodded, embarrassed.

"You're my pack leader, the alpha, you're male…a male who has cared for me so intimately…" He nuzzled Alfred again, breathing in his scent. "And you simply smell divine, though I doubt you could pick up my scent...But I'm not challenging you, I want you, even though I shouldn't for what I am, I want you…"

"What do I smell like?" Alfred asked, torn between curiosity and amusement.

Arthur breathed in deeply, before curling on Alfred's lap. "Like home and safety, comfort and love…" He nuzzled Alfred's neck again, hoping Alfred would take it a step further.

But Alfred didn't. He was torn; he liked Arthur, a lot- but to have sex/mate with him? That would be strange, as well as potentially something that could tear their friendship apart.

He admitted that he thought about Arthur a lot more than he thought about other friends- he worried more for him, cared more for him, was gentler with him, more open about kissing and comforting with him…

But fuck, if he didn't feel anything, and he did this with him, Arthur wouldn't be able to take it, since Alfred was his only source of socialization.

Alfred felt his heart pounding as he realized that he didn't want Arthur to be sad because of him, not now, and not ever. He cared too much for Arthur; he didn't want Arthur to hate him…

"Please, Alfred." Arthur whispered, his voice small and fear trickling in, as he seemed to sense Alfred's inner turmoil and debate. "Just…try for me… _please don't hate me.._."

Alfred's heart ached, but he nodded, and then brought Arthur into a kiss, soft and gentle and oh so _right_ , Arthur bending to his will and kissing back, wrapping his tail around Alfred's legs and rubbing himself against Alfred's body, clinging tight to Alfred as snakes would normally do during mating rituals.

However, Alfred had to laugh a bit, saying it would be hard to have sex if they didn't take off his pants, at the very least.

It was slow, and sweet, and Arthur was just as nervous and needy for approval as Alfred was- and Alfred had to push him down on the bed, ordering Arthur to only wrap around the bottom of his legs if he could, having pushed down his pants enough to have his cock out, and Arthur eyed it hungrily.

At another point in time, Arthur would have to be taught about oral sex, but that wasn't something Alfred was eager to try, remembering the bite on his arm all too well.

But for now, Alfred inserted a finger into Arthur's slit, feeling the warm slick inside a hidden spot that was where a human's crotch would be, and felt a shudder travel through Arthur's body, his mouth opening as it drew a moan from him.

And slowly, Alfred felt Arthur's bulge growing inside of him, and he avoided looking at the penis that was coming to a head in Arthur's slit, and focusing on Arthur's erotic face as Alfred kissed him, and rubbed at his nipples.

"You know, Arthur. I am, indeed, gay." Alfred explained, gentle. "It's not uncommon in many species for certain individuals to have romantic or sexual feelings for those of the same biological sex- or the parts you have." He kissed Arthur to reassure him again. "I don't hate you, I never thought you were female- I promise…I won't leave you."

Arthur groaned in pleasure as Alfred kissed him a bit deeper, feeling his cock come out of the slit, and Alfred wrapped his hand around it, squeezing it lightly, getting a sharp, pleasured noise out of Arthur.

"Now, the _real_ question is going to be _how_ we have sex…" Alfred said, voice uncertain as Arthur seemed to start bucking mindlessly into Alfred's hand, his voice trailing off as his blue eyes widened at the sight of Arthur being so completely animalistic.

It was…surprisingly arousing to watch the snake as Arthur wrapped himself around Alfred's body, bucking up into his hand quickly and desperately, and drool dripping from the snake man's mouth as he mindlessly groaned, occasionally moaning something that vaguely resembled Alfred's name.

He was surprised when it didn't last all that long, and Arthur came into his hand, nuzzling Alfred once again, looking to the cock in confusion, unsure of what he was supposed to do with it.

"Fast recovery time…" Alfred joked lightly, kissing Arthur's forehead as he snake man rubbed their chests together, feeling Alfred's warm cock against his slit, against his own cock, and rather enjoying the sensation, but Alfred decided to try something, as his cock was now very much erect- from both the show and the desperate rubbing Arthur had been doing against him.

And he gripped Arthur's hips, the area where the human skin became snake scales, and slowly tried to insert his cock into it.

Arthur made a surprised yelp, but made no move to get away from the sensation, green eyes wide, before he sunk onto it by raising his hips up, and moaned loudly, his eyes rolling up into his head from the invading pleasure. And Alfred felt his own body become a toy for Arthur, his cock brought to the base inside of Arthur, their skin flush against each other, the feeling intoxicating on both of their parts- though slightly more terrifying to Alfred because it was like he had become a sex toy for Arthur, the snake man was so much more powerful than he was physically.

And then the writhing started, and Alfred simply lost his thoughts, focusing on bucking into Arthur as best he could, the snake man and him both screaming and groaning in pleasure, the feeling bizarre but wonderful and far, far too much for both of them. Alfred felt Arthur's cock spilling against his shirt, cum soaking the fabric through, but Arthur was still going, still going, not yet satisfied.

And Alfred suddenly shouted out as it became too much for him, the squeezing, the abrupt, fast movements, the wet, hot warmth of Arthur's slit… and Alfred too came, inside of Arthur, making the snake man stop, and moan mindlessly, before going utterly lax, green eyes half-lidded, his pupils mere slits.

Alfred was able to pull himself out of the bundle of Arthur's coils, and kissed Arthur's lips softly, chuckling slightly as he thought to himself about how tying Arthur up during sex was going to be the only way this activity would consistently be safe for both of them, the human not precisely eager to be crushed by his half-human lover.

Speaking of them, the creature was far too tired to fight him, Alfred had to note, Arthur smiling dazedly at Alfred, humming softly and curling up contentedly.

The human stroked his hair and got up to stretch and work out any kinks in his back from the strange, but exciting sex.

Slowly, Arthur was coming to understand the world he lived in, spending it with the one person he loved more than anyone else, cherished more than anyone else.

The human, Alfred F. Jones: his alpha, his pack mate, and his beloved partner.


End file.
